Yesterday American Friends Service Committee joined the TurnerField Community Benefits Coalition at city hall to hold a press conference and
deliver a letter to Mayor Reed. Over sixty residents from the neighborhoods
surrounding Turner Field showed up on Tuesday morning to send a clear message
to the Mayor and city official. One of the residents, Doristine Samuel who’s
lived in Mechanicsville since 1957 stated, “We used to have a beautiful
community. We had everything we needed. Big development has destroyed our
neighborhoods, from the highway to the Olympic stadium, to Turner Field. We
need development done right, with community members involved. We know the Mayor
wants a legacy, but it must be a legacy we can live with.”
The letter asks the Mayor to make a public commitment to
completing the Turner Field Livable Centers Initiative Planning Study (LCI)
process before negotiating any development deal. It requests that Mayor Reed
use the recommendations from this study to initiate a competitive bidding
process for the massive redevelopment project. “Our communities have suffered
long enough as a result of top-down development,” says Summerhill resident John
A. Colabelli. “We don’t want a quick fix solution. This is a
once-in-a-generation opportunity to restore the surrounding neighborhoods and
reconnect downtown to the entire south side of Atlanta.” The LCI Planning Study
grant was awarded to the City of Atlanta in February 2015 and represents the
largest LCI grant ever-awarded by the Atlanta Regional Commission. The study is
due to be completed by July 31, 2016.
After delivering the letter to the Mayor’s office in mass the
group split up into teams and made sure every city council member, every county
commissioner, and every Atlanta County recreation authority representative had
a hand delivered letter by the end of lunch.
American Friends Service Committee is excited to continue to
support this important coalition work. We are informed by the idea that communities
should be controlled by those that live in them. We can no longer afford to
have a few well connected folks who already live in overabundance make massive
profits off public-private development deals while the surrounding communities
fall into decay. We have the coalition effort can turn the tide of bad
development deals in Atlanta and encourage all to get involved!
The Turner Field Community Benefits Coalition is a coalition
of 42 neighborhood associations and advocacy groups representing thousands of
residents in the communities surrounding Turner Field. The Coalition seeks
community participation in decisions related to the redevelopment of the Turner
Field Stadium area.
